A Parliamentary by-election recently took place in
Leicester, England.

This election is of enormous importance in principle, and every
socialist interested in the very important question of the attitude of the
proletariat towards the liberal bourgeoisie in general, and the British
socialist movement in particular, should ponder deeply over the Leicester
election.

Leicester is a two-member constituency and each elector has
two votes. There are only a few constituencies of this kind in
Britain, but they particularly favour a tacit bloc between the
Socialists and the Liberals, as is emphasised by the correspondent in
Britain of the Leipziger Volkszeitung. It was precisely in such
constituencies that the most prominent of the leaders of the so-called
Independent (independent of socialism, but dependent on liberalism) Labour
Party were elected to Parliament. The I.L.P. leaders, Keir Hardie, Philip
Snowden and Ramsay MacDonald, were returned by such constituencies.

And in these constituencies the Liberals, who are in the ascendancy,
call on their supporters to cast one vote for the Socialist and one for the
Liberal, provided, of course, that the Socialist is a “reasonable”,
moderate, “independent” one and not an irreconciable Social-Democrat,
whom the British Liberals and liquidators, no less than the Russian, know
how to curse as an anarcho-syndicalist, etc.!

What actually takes place, therefore, is the formation of a bloc
between the Liberals and the moderate, opportunist Socialists. Actually,
the British “independents” (for whom our liquidators express such tender
feelings) depend on the
Liberals. The conduct of the “independents” in the British Parliament
constantly confirms this dependence.

It happened that the I.L.P. member for Leicester, none other than the
party leader, MacDonald, resigned for personal reasons.

Leicester is a factory town with a predominantly proletarian
population.

The local I.L.P. organisation called a conference which by 67 votes
against 8 decided to put forward a candidate. No sooner said than
done. Banton, a Town Councillor and prominent member of the I.L.P., was
nominated.

Then the Executive Committee of this Party, which as signs the money
for the election campaign (and elections in Britain are very costly!),
refused to endorse Banton’s candidature!

The Leicester branch of the other British socialist party, which is not
opportunist and is really independent of the Liberals, then sent
its representative to the Leicester I.L.P. and invited them to support
its candidate, Hartley, a member of the British Socialist Party, a
very popular figure in the labour movement, an ex-member of the Independent
Labour Party, who left it because of its opportunism.

The members of the Leicester branch of the I.L.P. were in an awkward
position: they were heart and soul in favour of Hartley, but ... but what
of the discipline in their party, the decision of their Executive
Committee? The Leicester people found a way out: they closed the meeting,
and each in his private capacity declared for Hartley. Next day a
huge meeting of workers endorsed Hartley’s candidature. Banton himself sent
a telegram stating that he would vote for Hartley. The Leicester trade
unions declared for Hartley.

The I.L.P. Parliamentary group intervened and published a
protest in the Liberal press (which, like our Rech
and Sovremenka, helps the opportunists) against Hartley’s
candidature, against “undermining” MacDonald!

The election, of course, resulted in a victory for the Liberals. They
obtained 10,863 votes, the Conservatives 9,279, and Hartley 2,580.

Class-conscious workers in various countries quite often adopt a
“tolerant” attitude toward the British I.L.P. This is a great
mistake. The betrayal of the workers’ cause in Leicester by the
I.L.P. is no accident, but the result of the entire opportunist
policy of the Independent Labour Party. The sympathies of all real
Social-Democrats should be with those British Social-Democrats who are
determinedly combating the Liberal corruption of the workers by the
“Independent” Labour Party in Britain.